The Coffee House
by Aromene
Summary: Tony was never allowed to run out of coffee. There was a whole computer programme written to ensure that Tony Stark did not run out of coffee. Which meant that running out was akin to a travesty of global proportions.


**Disclaimer: If Marvel was mine I'd have the best job in the world and I wouldn't need to be writing fanfic to keep the insanity at bay. **

**AN: And once again, **_**thank you Muse**_** [sarcasm]. I am entirely certain this fic could go on forever and ever and ever. There could 'The Avengers visit the Coffee House' chapters and everything. But it's not going to happen, so don't even ask.**

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Billionaires did not visit coffee shops. They imported the most expensive, rarest beans in the world to wherever they happen to be; whether that was Malibu, Dubai, or 37,000 feet in the air. Tony Stark did not do coffee shops.

But Pepper Potts did.

After the Tower in New York was complete, or at least complete enough to move in (they'd finished the penthouse floors and R&D first, the rest could wait), Pepper realised that there was a coffee house across the street in the lobby of the facing building. It was some independent Italian thing, but since Pepper actually _preferred_ what she termed 'normal coffee', it only took her a day before she stopped in for a visit. The number of businessmen and women inside made her feel at home and no one, at least, seemed to recognise her.

The barista made her exactly what she asked for and with a smile. Pepper gave her an extra tip and promised to be back.

Tony was never allowed to run out of coffee. There was a whole computer programme written to ensure that Tony Stark did not run out of coffee. He had a whole system to make sure that when he wanted it, there was always a fresh pot of the dark roast brewed and ready for him, which pretty much meant constantly. Other than that, he didn't really care where the coffee came from, as long as it was the beans he was used to and it was _always available_.

Which meant that running out was akin to a travesty of global proportions.

'How are we _out of coffee_?' he asked Pepper in an already weak-from-lack-of-caffeine voice.

'Because Sumatra is having a bad drought year and their coffee bean crops are not doing well. They've drastically reduced production. It just isn't available.'

He blinked at her, clearly confused. 'Then make it available! I need coffee Pepper,' he whined.

'And I will happily run to the store and buy some. But you can't have _your_ coffee. Not until next week at the earliest.' She was trying very hard to keep from either grinning at the completely pathetic look on his face or getting really annoyed that they'd been having the same conversation for ten minutes and she was late to a meeting.

'I…I…that doesn't even deserve a response. I can't have just _any_ kind of coffee. I can't stand the taste! I need _my_ coffee Pepper. I can't work without _my _coffee.'

'Tony,' she said, sidling up to him in a way she never would have even dared to attempt before the whole Vanko and Hammer debacle.

His eyes tracked her with entirely too much attention. Pepper smiled. 'I know this lovely little coffee place that's right across the road. I am late for a meeting, but I will go downstairs myself and get you a cup. And you will drink it and stop complaining. You can last a week. I'll make sure it has the same amount of caffeine in it that you're used to. Your brain will not cease to function.' He opened his mouth to contest that fact and Pepper pushed the length of her body against his. He closed it abruptly. 'And tonight, after my meetings, I'll make it worth your while.'

'Okay,' he said, sounding only slightly strangled.

Pepper smiled. 'Thank you, Tony.' Why had it taken them so long to get to this point? A decade earlier and think of all the work she could have gotten him to do just with a casual brush of the fingers or hip! 'I'll be right back.'

She was, in fact, fifteen minutes. Despite his coffee protests, Tony was already back at work on the suit, music blaring so loud Pepper couldn't even hear herself think. It stopped as soon as she walked in the door, as always.

'Thank you JARVIS.'

'You're welcome Ms. Potts.'

'Coffee?' Tony asked, hopefully.

Pepper handed over a take-away cup, tall and still blazingly hot. 'Coffee.'

Tony eyed it warily. 'If that kills me…I am blaming you.'

'I tasted it myself; it won't kill you.'

'Gah! Germs! Pepper germs!'

'You never seem to mind the germs when I'm kissing you,' she reasoned.

Tony gave that a second's thought. 'Fair point. Gimme.' He held the hot cup in his hand for a full minute while Pepper tried not to look like she was, in fact, thirty minutes late for a meeting. Sighing exasperatedly, like it was a severe travesty that he was forced to drink the kind of coffee that businessmen across the road did, Tony took a sip.

Pepper raised an eyebrow. 'Well?'

He was swishing the hot liquid around in his mouth like it was 25-year-old scotch or fine wine. Finally he swallowed. And shrugged. 'Better than nothing,' he finally said. 'But it's still awful.'

'And right now, it's all you've got. I'll see you tonight,' she said, giving him a wink, as if she needed to even remind him about later. Though it was Tony, so she probably did.

'Where's this coffee place?' he asked JARVIS, as soon as the door closed behind the strawberry blond hair and six inch heels.

'In the lobby of the office building directly across the road, sir,' the AI responded smoothly. 'Ms. Potts has already informed them of your typical order.'

Tony frowned for a moment and then he grinned. 'She knows me too well, my Pep!'

'Indeed, sir,' JARVIS agreed, because it was the sort of thing he was programmed to say.

xxxxx

The typical coffee order arrived a week later, but Tony didn't even touch it. He'd been sending minions from the newly up and running R&D down to the café – all of whom seemed only too happy to get coffee for _Tony Stark_ – since Pepper's first cup. Happy had already cottoned on too and had brought him a fresh cup a few times when he wasn't busy running the acting head of SI around to various meetings.

But it was a month before Tony ventured across the road himself. He did it in the usual fashion he did everything. It was less than fifty feet from the front door of Stark Tower to the crosswalk. Even less, in fact. It was probably fifty feet from the _elevator_ to the crosswalk, but apparently that was too far. So Tony just walked right across the road, ignoring the blaring horns of taxi cabs and the shouts of angry drivers. His tower, his coffee shop, _ergo_ his road. It wasn't a hard thing to figure.

Inside the office building it was dark and cool compared to outside, but also bland and grey and typically office-y building like. Tony hated it immediately. It was enough to give one hives, so he ducked to the left and into the coffee house. It was all proper coffee house like, though he'd never been in one, so who knew what that meant? Still, the walls were a rich colour, the wood was a rich colour and it smelled like coffee. All of that were good things in Tony's book.

It was also quiet. It was mid-afternoon (otherwise known as morning to Tony) and there were only a few patrons in the place, between the lunch rush and the after work rush. He liked it already.

'How can I help you?' the pretty brunette behind the counter asked him.

He flashed her his best winning smile, which usually had women fainting in the streets. She did seem to go a little star eyed. 'I think you have my order on record. At least, I hope you do, because I actually have no idea what Pepper ordered that first time. Whatever it is, it's the same thing everyone's brought me since.'

She blinked at him and then, a second later, inkling dawned. 'Oh!' she exclaimed; eyes even wider now. 'Ohhhhhh!'

'Yeah, that's it. Right there,' Tony agreed, smirking.

'Mary!' the young woman cried, clearly to a co-worker hiding around back. An older lady, maybe fifty but still looking pretty damn fine for it, stuck her head around the staff door. 'What's wrong?'

But the younger woman seemed to have lost the ability to speak. So she just stuck her hand straight out and pointed at Tony's chest. Which, to be fair, was probably a pretty good identifier, because he was wearing a more-see-through-than-usual shirt and the glow of the arc reactor was a little bit…obvious. He made a mental note to change before he ran impulsively out of theTower again.

Mary approached the counter, giving him a good eye. 'Well, I guess I wondered if you'd ever actually come visit us yourself, Mr. Stark,' she said, smiling. It was a really nice smile. Tony immediately relaxed.

'Well, lack of coffee minions to be found today. I was desperate,' he grinned back.

'Kai, will you get Mr. Stark's order ready please?' she said, giving the younger woman an eye that even Tony could read meant 'screw this up and you are fired'. He liked a no nonsense woman.

Kai jumped, blinked at her boss and then scrambled to obey. 'She'll be just a moment,' Mary said. 'And for future reference, it's a tall of our Peruvian drip.'

'For the next time I get desperate,' he said.

'Exactly. I'll just put that on your tab.'

Tony blinked at her. 'I have a tab? You can have tabs in coffee houses? Why did I not know this?'

Anyone else would have returned that question with 'because you've never been in a coffee house?' with as much sarcasm as possible, but Mary apparently was nicer than most people. 'We don't do it for anyone other than our most valued customers. And only when we know where they live,' she winked.

Tony stared. 'Well, that's only slightly creepy. But since I did put up a massive skyscraper with my name blazoned on the side, I guess I asked for creepiness. I don't think it occurred to me that it would make stalking easier,' he sounded almost contemplative. It _hadn't_ actually occurred to him. He had security people to handle those sorts of thoughts.

'Well, I haven't seen anyone lingering around your lobby doors, so you're probably okay.'

Tony smiled at her, genuinely this time. 'Well, keep an eye out. Feel free to, you know, call the police or something if you do.'

'Here!' Kai said, suddenly bubbly once more. She was holding out a tall cup of deliciously smelling coffee, with steam rising through the hole in the plastic coffee cup top. She was also beaming.

'Thanks,' Tony said, flashing her the same grin he had when he walked in. This time, it had its full effect. Kai made a very high pitched noise, looked horrified for a brief second, and then fled through the Employees Only door. 'Well, that's always a nice ego boost,' he reasoned.

Mary sighed. 'Be happy she lost the ability to speak. There'd be an autograph wanting.'

Tony took a sip of the nearly burning hot brew and sighed in contentment. 'Well, I think this deserves one. Got a spare cup and a pen?' he asked.

Shaking her head ruefully, Mary handed him the requested items. Tony scrawled a 'Thanks for a great cup Kai!' and his name on the side of the white cardboard.

'She'll be thrilled. If she ever manages to work up the ability to speak to you, that is. I don't hold much hope,' the manager deadpanned.

Tony quirked an eyebrow. 'You're very sarcastic. I like it.'

'We try to serve our customers just the way they like it,' she returned.

Tony laughed. 'Well, in that case, I'll be back again. When I can't find minions to send in my stead.'

'You're welcome any time Mr. Stark,' Mary told him, meaning every word.

'Tony, seriously. It's Tony.'

'Mary,' she said. 'Should be easy enough to remember.'

He blinked at that. 'Uh, yeah. Yeah it will be.' There was a drawn out pause, but Mary didn't seem bothered by that. 'Anyways, thanks for the coffee. Thanks Kai!' he called louder. There was a very undignified giggle from behind the door. He smiled. 'Yeah, great for my ego.'

And with his usual smile in place he waltzed back out the door, trying very hard not to notice the hive-inducing lobby, and took the most direct route across the road, more mindful of spilling the coffee then the taxi drivers attempting to run him down.

Pepper was standing in the lobby waiting for him. He could have sworn she wasn't in the Tower when he left and hey, he'd only been gone like, five minutes.

'Pepper!' he cried, because that's what people did when they saw their girlfriend for the first time all day.

'Tony. How's the coffee?'

Without missing a single beat he enthused 'fantastic. Just the way I like it. Just excellent brew there, Pep. Have to check the stocks of Peruvian coffee beans though. They aren't in a drought are they? Do they get droughts in the rain forest?'

'Peru is not in the rain forest,' she felt the need to point out.

'Maybe I should try Brazilian then. I mean, there's no way they could have a drought.'

'Probably not.'

'Brazilian next time then! All these other countries! Who knew?'

Pepper, a long practiced look of complete patience on her face, just smiled. 'Who indeed?'

'I've got to get back to work. Dinner later?' Tony said, already half way through his cup of coffee. He was torn between turning around and going back for another or getting back to the project he had been in the middle of when he'd run out of coffee in the first place and none of the minions had answered his shouting. What was he paying them for if they didn't come running when he called? Useless minions.

Pepper's patient smile took on a slight note of forced pleasantness. 'Yes Tony. Dinner. Reservations, in fact. That I made…three weeks ago.'

Tony froze, half a step towards the elevator. 'Uh…because it's hard to get a table?' he queried.

The red ponytail bounced as Pepper shook her head slowly. 'No. Second guess?'

His brain had suddenly gone on holiday. Clearly he needed more coffee. 'Okay, is there a meeting I've forgotten? Because you _know_ me and meetings. I'm allergic.'

'It's not a business meeting.'

Tony knew he was in trouble. He wracked his brains for an understanding of the situation. He really needed to wear a concealed mic or something at all times so that JARVIS could help him out when these sorts of things happened.

'So it's been…a month or…so?' he hazard. How long ago was that whole mess at Stark Expo? It seemed like a year or more but that wasn't right.

Pepper pursed her lips.

So screwed.

'You're good a math, Tony. What's one plus five?'

Wow, six month anniversary. Yeah, he was officially the worst boyfriend ever. Which wasn't a surprise to anyone, least of all Tony. It shouldn't have been to Pepper either. But the look she was giving him clearly meant 'dog house' even if he'd never been in a relationship long enough to be _in_ the dog house before.

'And will you be wearing the dress I got you tonight?' he hazarded.

She smiled at him. It was the most un-Pepper-like smile he'd ever seen from her. It actually reminded him of Natalie. Natasha. _Creepy SHEILD Agent Number One_. Two. Whatever.

'No, Tony. But I promise to wear the diamond earrings,' she said in her sweetest voice. And with a last look she sauntered off in stiletto heels towards one of the always waiting elevators. Tony was left standing in the middle of his own lobby, quickly cooling coffee forgotten in one hand.

'JARVIS?' he managed after a moment.

'Yes sir?'

'Where's the nearest jewelry store?'

The smooth English voice replied immediately: 'Four blocks west of your current location sir. Would you care for directions?'

'Yeah. Yes, directions would be good. Actually, just call Happy. He'll know what necklace will match the earrings she already picked out.'

'Very good, sir.'

He took another long gulp of the not at all hot coffee. Yeah, he was definitely going to try Brazilian beans next time. And bring a latte back for Pepper. She liked lattes.

He was pretty sure she liked lattes. He'd have to ask Happy that too.


End file.
